GitOps: An implementation of DevOps

Abstract GitOps is a prescriptive way of implementing DevOps. You will not succeed in using GitOps if you haven’t embraced some DevOps philosophies along the way. In this talk, we’ll look at the GitOps Principles and see how they align to existing or new DevOps/SRE functions. GitOps, being a wonderful implementation of DevOps functionality in cloud native environments and beyond, will enable organizations to prescriptively shift left, improve release velocity, and hopefully reap all the other benefits that higher performers in the State of DevOps reports see....

January 6, 2021 · 1 min · Chris Short

2020 Learnings, 2021 Expectations

We’ve all had challenging years before. However, none were quite as challenging as in 2020. In the conclusion of last year’s post, I wrote, “I am hopeful that whatever economic upheaval we face as a society in 2020 is limited.” At that time, economic indicators were bubble-ish. However, a global pandemic was not something I had in the cards. No one did. A global pandemic, international protests against horrific injustices, and a US government damn near inept at helping with any of it....

December 30, 2020 · 16 min · Chris Short

Security at Cloud Native Speed

Abstract Cloud native technologies are increasingly used by organizations to provide a competitive advantage. Containers and Kubernetes jumpstart developer productivity but, they could increase security teams’ workloads. Threat vectors span cloud providers, control planes, developer tooling, and applications in environment hybrid environments. Use these technologies and cultures to improve security and reduce blast radius while improving velocity. This talk will analyze human tendencies and provide tips to improve security postures in cloud native environments....

November 7, 2019 · 3 min · Chris Short

Lessons Learned from Cloud Migrations: Planning is Everything

Abstract “Migrating to the cloud saves money!” “Not running your own infrastructure reduces your bottom line!” “Lift and shift is a legitimate first step towards moving to the cloud!” These are all potential pitfalls if you’re not careful. Proper planning prevents piss poor performance. Using a real chaotic cloud migration as a guide, we’ll walk through the pitfalls of cloud migrations and how to avoid them and the terrifying vendor lock-in (when it makes sense)....

March 7, 2018 · 3 min · Chris Short

DevOps is Not War

Abstract Over the past 500 years, there have been 16 cases of a rising power threatening to displace a ruling power. 75% of those cases resulted in war. Although your organizational transformation probably won’t lead to war, it could be contentious. History can help prevent conflict when driving change. This talk will analyze human tendencies, historical data, and provide real-world examples of how to avoid conflict during your DevOps journey....

March 2, 2018 · 6 min · Chris Short

Kubernetes Cron Jobs: Dreams Really Do Come True

Abstract I worked for a large company with several hundred cron jobs running on two systems. Managing these jobs was cumbersome. Resource use during peak times brought things to a halt. Imagine what it was like when systems were down! In this talk, we discuss Kubernetes’ killer feature: Cron Jobs. Description Kubernetes, Jobs, and Cron Jobs What is Kubernetes? Kubernetes has the concept of Jobs Kubernetes Cron Jobs are a relatively new thing Use Case Former employer had several hundred cron jobs running on two systems Resource contention during peak times brought the systems to a halt If one cron job didn’t run it was hard to determine what task failed or didn’t run based on user tickets Chaos if the systems were offline for one reason or another Using minikube and Docker running locally…...

March 1, 2018 · 2 min · Chris Short

DevOps 101

This talk has been deprecated and remains for reference Abstract With the need to build, test and release software more rapidly, frequently and reliably the concept of DevOps has never been more popular, and to a degree, more misunderstood. DevOps skills are consistently highly sought after and in huge demand, yet at the same time little education and training is available in both the professional world and in higher education....

February 28, 2018 · 9 min · Chris Short

Go to the rescue: Saving DevOps from TLS turmoil

Abstract Find out about a use case that created a need for testing certificate chains, appropriate web server security settings, and the Go code used for testing. Description Talk would be based on this article: https://opensource.com/article/17/4/testing-certificate-chains-34-line-go-program If you ever need to validate certificates or certificate chains before deploying them, Go provides a near foolproof test method. A 3rd party developed a tool that was then handed off to our DevOps team to manage and maintain....

February 23, 2018 · 2 min · Chris Short